With the battle set to become a one-horse race, the supermarket chain's shares slumped by almost 5% today. The involvement of London & Regional emerged in April after the Bristol-based company earlier rejected an offer from retail investment group Baugur.
The frustration of the Somerfield board at the length of the process was aired in September when it demanded a "prompt conclusion" to the talks. That was followed by a ruling from the Takeover Panel that said both parties had until October 14 to either "put up or shut up."
Privately analysts expressed their believe that L&R pulled out of the race because retailer United Co-operatives was no longer interested in taking on 500 of the Somerfield outlets as part of the deal. United, which is the country's largest regional co-operative group, had considered launching its own bid for Somerfield earlier this year.
Somerfield, which is the UK's fifth largest supermarket group, has around 1,300 shops in the UK, including a large number under the KwikSave brand. L&R said it had retained the right to make an offer in the event of a rival bid.
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